In memory of our brother and son, Robert Bagnell,
who died moments after being tasered by police in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 23, 2004. Bob was the 7th Canadian to die and the 110th in North America.

WELCOME to TRUTH ... not TASERS

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Family speaks about 17-year-old's death, although police haven't released his name

A spokesman for the family of a Winnipeg teen who died after police zapped him with a stun gun are questioning whether officers used excessive force and if the boy was a victim of racial profiling.

Police and civic officials, however, have defended their use of the stun gun, saying the appropriate amount of force was used given the situation.

Police have not yet released the name of the boy who died in the Tuesday afternoon confrontation, but family members identified him as 17-year-old Michael Langan. The teen was rushed to hospital in critical condition after officers struck him with a Taser. He later died, becoming the first stun gun-related fatality since the Winnipeg Police Service began using the devices in the fall of 2006.

The encounter happened after two citizens flagged down police around 4 p.m. CT Tuesday to report seeing a thief flee, then officers tracked down someone wielding a knife several blocks away.

Langan's mother, Sharon Shymko, and her family have asked David Chartrand, the president of the Manitoba Metis Federation, to speak on their behalf as she grieves the loss of her son. Chartrand questioned whether racial profiling played a part in the encounter. "Why does it seem to be aboriginal people that seem to fall prey to this extra force against us?" he asked. "Is there a better way that could have handled a youth with a knife in his hand?"

No plans for Taser policy change

He also questioned how the police force has handled the case, saying they were notified late about the teen's death. "Police did come, and got a picture and left, and they did not verify to her until later on the next day …," Chartrand said.

In a CTV interview with the mother, she called for a moratorium on the devices, and said the officers should have just used a gun since it "basically did the same thing."

Police and civic politicians stand by their use of the weapon in the incident. "The suspect in this matter was armed with a knife and clearly refusing to comply with directions from the officers to disarm. That poses a threat to the officers, that poses a threat to other members of the public," said police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput.

Gord Steeves, head of the city's committee on protection and community services, agreed, and said the incident is not cause for a change in policy. "It's a terrible incident, of course, there's no happy ending to a story like this," said Steeves. "But as of right now, I have no indication any policy needs to be changed, any policy wasn't followed or that any of our people make any mistakes."

Counsellors, lawyers to help family

The Manitoba Metis Federation is providing counsellors and lawyers to help the Langan family deal with the loss. "There's a lot of hurt right now. That's really, really difficult right now," said Chartrand, adding that the community is concerned about Shymko's state of mind.

It has not yet been determined whether the Taser contributed to the teen's death. Results from an autopsy are pending.

Taser use has been under scrutiny since several high-profile deaths following their use by police across Canada, including the case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, which made international headlines. He died in the Vancouver International Airport after RCMP officers zapped him at least twice with a stun gun.

Probes into the use of Tasers were launched in the wake of his death. A probe by the RCMP watchdog, for instance, concluded that rookie officers should not be allowed to use the stun guns, and those zapped with the device should be given immediate medical attention.

No comments:

We're on Twitter!

taser-Related Deaths = 997+ in North America

See "A LIST OF THE DEAD"According to Taser International, the taser had nothing to do with any of these deaths. According to Amnesty International, the taser has been identified as either a cause or contributing factor in at least 60 of them. That number would be higher; however medical examiners and coroners are often not impartial but are instead biased in favour of the Crown or, as has been shown, they are under tremendous pressure from - among others - Taser International, to make a particular finding.See Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions

Search This Blog

Loading...

Taser International finally admits risk that their weapons may affect the human heart

RCMP - TASERS POTENTIALLY LETHAL

EDITORIALS

NAVIGATING THIS SITE

This blog, which contains more than 3,000 posts, is broken down into 50 posts per page. When you reach the bottom of the last post on a page, click on "Older Posts" to see earlier posts, chronologically.

To return to the main page (and the NEWEST post) at any time, click here.

To see all posts on a specific topic, please see the "Categories of Interest" list below. To search for a specific name, word or term, use the "Search This Blog" feature at the top of this column, powered by Google.

My Brother - Robert Bagnell June 27, 1959 - June 23, 2004

to contact us

If you wish to contact us, please leave a message ("private" or otherwise) on the guestbook (see below), including your e-mail address.

2) Until such time as independent and unbiased study into the "real world" safety implications of Tasers has been properly completed, a moratorium must be imposed upon these weapons.

3) If, after independent and unbiased study has been completed, the Taser is going to remain in the police arsenal, it must be placed at a level equal to lethal force on the continuum of force and used only as a second-to-last resort.

4) Safety standards must be developed for Tasers. There are currently no Canadian safety standards in place for this weapon.

5) Police must not be allowed to investigate themselves but must be subject to independent and unbiased civilian oversight.

6) Families of people who die in police custody in Canada must be provided with funding so that they may be properly represented by legal counsel.

07. Robert Bagnell, 44 – Vancouver, BC - June 23, 2004 - X26 - "Official" cause of death: Consistent with restraint-associated cardiac arrest due to acute cocaine intoxication and psychosis. Bob's autopsy report showed marks on his body consistent to multiple taser shots, which incidently could not be affirmed by the pathologist because she could not explain those marks.

09. Samuel Truscott, 43 – Kingston, ON - August 8, 2004 - X26 - "Official" cause of death: Heart attack cause by drug overdose and "I can state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in his death" said Chief Coroner for Ontario, Jim Cairns

24. Michael Langan, 17, Winnipeg, MB - July 22, 2008 - tasered 1 time - the autopsy report says Langan's death was caused by a heart arrhythmia brought on by the Taser shocks

25. Sean Reilly, 42 - Brampton, ON - September 17, 2008 - Peel Regional Police - X26 - tasered 2 times - the inquest jury will determine the official cause of death, however, “the forensic evidence indicated that the force used by the officers, including the Taser discharge, did not contribute to his death"

27. Trevor Grimolfson, 38 - Edmonton, AB - October 29, 2008, X26 - According to sources, after he was pepper sprayed, Trevor was tasered directly on the chest 5 times and tasered on the back of the neck 2 more times - Edmonton police said he was only tasered 2 times but testing on the tasers proves otherwise - "Official" cause of death: excited delirium brought on by drugs

29. Grant William Prentice, 40 - Brooks, AB - May 6, 2009 - RCMP - tasered 2 times - "Official" cause of death: acute cocaine toxicity and "the medical examiner also concluded the taser did not play a role in the death"

Ain't it the truth!

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

80% percent of the population could be moved in either direction

Human rights activist Susan Sontag, when asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, said that 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction.

THE Successes AREN'T the Problem

"The issue is not whether or not the taser can be used in a high percentage of cases to reduce death and/or physical trauma to officers and civilians alike. The issue is whether or not it's OK to kill the rest through ignorance and rationalization just because it's a small percentage ... The successes aren't the problem - the failures are. They're being told that tasers are nonlethal, so they blast away until people can't move. They're killing people by accident." Dave Siegler, father of Raymond Siegler, who died on February 12, 2004

The artistic side of Robert Bagnell

WE KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE

ROBERT ANGLEN

Robert Anglen, a reporter with The Arizona Republic, documented the first 167 Taser-related deaths. Mr. Anglen launched a journalistic investigation of Taser International, linking the Taser to multiple deaths, among other eye-openers.

At the 2005 Arizona Press Club Awards, Mr. Anglen won first place in the Investigative reporting category. He was the recipient of the Don Bolles Award for his report entitled "Taser tied to 'independent' study that backs stun gun'. “As part of an extraordinarily thorough investigation of Taser International, Anglen uncovered ‘smoking gun’ documents that showed the manufacturer was heavily involved in the key study that purported the devices are safe. Anglen also uncovered conflicts of interest and documented wide-spread problems with Taser safety — a matter of national and international public interest.”

In 2006, Mr. Anglen was a runner up for the Arizona Press Club's Virg Hill Journalist of the Year award. Peter Bhatia of The Oregonian wrote “Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter, pure and simple. Clearly, he is a reporter who, once he sinks his teeth into something, stays with it until the story is done. His ongoing work around the company that makes Tasers speaks to that."